Methods	RCT parallel group
Participants	n = 66 patients in Home-based CR group (33 in brief exercise programme subgroup & 33 inextended subgroup); n = 61 patients in Centre-based CR group (31 in brief subgroup & 30 in extended subgroup); 100% uncomplicated acute MI; mean age 52 (SD 9); 100% male Inclusion: Uncomplicated AMI (elevated serum creatinine kinase or oxaloacetic transamianase, prolonged chest pain consistent with AMI, new Q waves or evolutionary ST changes in ECG) Exclusion: Unable to undertake exercise test, congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, valvular heart disease, atrial fibrillation, bundle branch block, history of bypass, stroke, orthopaedic abnormalities, peripheral vascular disease, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, obesity
Interventions	Home-based CR (intervention): Exercise: Overall duration: 8 wks (brief) or 23 wks (extended), Frequency: 5 sessions/wk; Duration: 30 mins/session; Intensity: 70-85% HRmax; modality: stationary cycling. Portable heart rate monitors & teletransmissions of ECG; 2 phone calls/wk by staff to verify training intensity, clinical status and medication Other: No education or psychological intervention reported Centre-based CR (control): Exercise: Overall duration: 8 wks (brief) or 23 wks (extended), Frequency: 5 sessions/wk; Duration: 60 mins/session; intensity: 70-85% HRmax; modality: walking/jogging. Group based & supervised Other: No education or psychological intervention reported
Outcomes	Exercise capacity; mortality & cardiovascular morbidity
Follow up	23 weeks post randomisation
Subgroup analyses	Yes. Results reported according to the two subgroups reported i.e. brief vs extended exercise training
Country & settings	USA, single hospital centre
Notes	Results of two subgroups included into analysis separately
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors’ judgement	Support for judgement
Adequate sequence generation?	Unclear risk	Not reported
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	Not reported
Blinding? All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported
Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes	Low risk	Drop out reported. No imputation of missing data discussed. Effect of incomplete outcome data likely to be small
Free of selective reporting?	Low risk	All outcomes described in the methods section are reported in the results
Groups balanced at baseline?	Unclear risk	Baseline characteristics not reported
Intention to treat analysis?	Low risk	Term ‘intention to treat analysis’ not stated directly, but results appear to be presented according to original random allocation. This is further supported by a trial flow diagram in the paper
Groups received same intervention?	Low risk	Both home and centre groups were very closely balanced in terms of the exercise training received